Replication

Replicated CDs are molded (using a glass master) and stamped at dedicated manufacturing plants. Replication has been the standard for making CDs for a couple of decades.

PLAYABILITY:

The replicated CD is guaranteed to play 100% of the time. If it doesn’t, the run is usually replaced! Of course in both these situations, people do have CD players that are starting to break down so that can be a factor. If there is a playability problem, the plant will investigate their quality control and report back to us as to what the problem might be, if any.

DISC FACE:

Replicated discs use a process called Silk-Screening or Off-Set printing.

QUANTITY:

Orders for replicated discs start at 250 and up. The more you order, the less they cost per unit as there is a lot of set-up work and time that goes into making a replicated disc.

COST:

Duplicating 250 and replicating 250 units are very close in price but the price of the replicated product drops considerably by the time they make 1,000.

TURN TIME:

From the time that both the art work and final master are submitted and approved at the plant, the standard turn time is approximately 7-10 business days.

PACKAGING:

Manufactured discs come in jewel boxes and various types of cardboard products and are fairly standardized throughout the industry. In other words, the quality doesn’t vary too much from plant to plant.

Duplication

PLAYABILITY:

Duplicated CDs are burned CD-Rs. If duplicated from high quality CD-Rs, they work remarkably well, BUT, there are a few older CD players out there that may not play them. This isn’t a good reason not to get them but be aware that you may get a call from someone saying their CD doesn’t work. First thing to do is to tell them to try it on a another player. That will solve the problem 99.9% of the time. Also this will probably happen very, very occasionally and so should not be a big concern but we point it out in case it happens.

DISC FACE:

Burned CD-Rs are printed digitally.

PLAYING SURFACE:

Some people don’t like burned CD-Rs because the back of the disc is a greenish or purple-ish tone! The one our plant uses look very close to a factory pressed disc.

QUANTITY:

Duplicated discs are a short-run product and therefore are only ordered when less than 250 are needed. The average short-run is probably about 150. Our minimum order is 50 CDs.

COST:

The cost of duplicating short-runs is more expensive as it is a labour intensive, manual process. Replicated discs at the plant are mostly mechanized and therefore the more the plant makes, the more the cost goes down.

DELIVERY TIME:

A major benefit of a duplicated short-run product, is that it usually turned around more quickly. But this also depends on how many orders the plant has in progress, Replicated plant runs take on average 7-10 business days. Please note that we have rush fees for almost any CD product so please inquire if you need them quicker than the normal turn time.

PACKAGING:

The packaging quality of our duplicated CD-Rs are the same as for the replicated product. This in not the case with every place that you might go. As opposed to plant run quality which is generally standard amoungst all brokers, in house products do vary greatly. Wherever you decide to purchase from, it is advisable to check out the quality of the short-run product before you order.

QUALITY of DISC:

Our plant only use high quality blank CD-Rs burned with quality burners. Watch out for places that use cheap CD-Rs as can have lots of play-ability problems!